PANJIM: The State government has proposed six per cent tariff hike for domestic consumers in the first two slabs of 0 to 100 and 101 to 200 units power consumption category, while an overall hike of 3.48 per cent.
The proposal was made to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) during a public hearing at Panjim regarding the petition submitted by the Electricity Department for tariff proposal for the financial year 2024-2025.
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Speaking during the hearing, Chief Electricity Engineer Stephen Fernandes said if approved by the Commission, the new tariff will be implemented from April 1, 2024.
As per the proposal, six per cent tariff hike has been proposed for domestic consumers in the first two slabs of 0 to 100 and 101 to 200 units power consumption category, while an overall hike of 3.48 per cent has been proposed, Fernandes said.
The Chief Electrical Engineer said around four lakh consumers in the State fall within the bracket of 0 to 200 units.
The Electricity Department has proposed an increase in energy charges of low tension domestic consumers from Rs 1.75/kWh to Rs 1.88/kWh for 0-100 units (12 paise hike), from Rs 2.6 to Rs 2.79/kWh (19 paise hike) for consumption between 101-200 units, from Rs 3.3/kWh to Rs 3.7/kWh for consumption between 201-300 units (40 paise hike), from Rs 4.4/kWh to Rs 4.9/kWh between 301-400 units (50 paise hike) and from Rs 5.1/kWh to Rs 5.8/kWh per unit for consumption above 400 units (70 paise hike).
The department has also proposed a hike in energy charges for low tension consumers in the commercial, industrial, hotel industries and agricultural categories as well as for public lighting, hoardings and sign- board and electric vehicle charging station categories.
People from both the districts as well as political leaders from opposition parties attended the hearing and opposed the tariff hike.
Political party leaders advised the government to recover the pending dues to bridge the revenue gap. Consumers also highlighted issues related to frequent disruption in power supply.
The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Director General Sanjay Amonkar supported the idea of using barren lands for putting up solar panels. He also suggested that digital TV can be charged for raising revenue.
Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas said transparency in providing continuous electricity is not happening. There must be value of money nor is there accountability.
“There must be accountability of the expenditure. Education, health, power and water are basic requirements and the government must give it. In Madhya Pradesh BJP announced to give 100 units of power at Rs 100 then why is it not happening in Goa? Power tariff hike is not acceptable,” he said.
The Congress president Amit Patkar also petitioned the JERC not to allow power tariff hike. It urged the Electricity Department to crackdown on high-end villas paying domestic tariffs. The party said that the high end villas should be charged with commercial tariff.
The Goa Forward Party objected to the proposal to increase power tariff. The party submitted a memorandum to the Commission asking the government to focus on recovering arrears which is more than to the tune of Rs 200 crore.
Chief Electrical Engineer Stephen Fernandes said the State cannot draw more than 700 MW of power.
“If one of the lines goes off, we are asked to reduce 380 MW of power. People sitting here do not know that because the power supply of industry is cut,” he said.
Fernandes said, “Infrastructure is very important for each individual. We must thank Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, which are getting polluted due to coal and we are getting power.”
